The channel will initiate the slot with a half-hour kid's show titled Super Sunnny, to feed the 2 pm band, from Monday to Friday. The same slot on Saturday and Sunday will be occupied by a dubbed version of the international format, The Mask Warriors. The show will be called Zabardast Wrestling.

Big Magic, the Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) from the Reliance stable, targeting the core Hindi heartland of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, is introducing a specialised kids' band to tap the 4-14 year-olds.

On September 26, the channel will initiate the slot with a half-hour kid's show, titled Super Sunnny, to feed the 2 pm band, from Monday to Friday. Meanwhile, the 2 pm slot on Saturdays and Sundays will bring in the international format show The Mask Warriors, dubbed in Hindi, using local voices. The show will be called Zabardast Wrestling, and will be launched on October 1.

Going forward, the channel will launch another daily fiction property by October-end, thereby extending the band to one hour.

Why the need to launch a kids' band?

Anand Chakravarthy, business head, Big Magic, says, "In the regional TV space, there are certain bands that are highly dominated by the 4-14 year-olds and together, therefore, they account for a large viewership base. Since we intend to pose Big Magic as a variety entertainment platform, the idea to introduce a kids-specific band made complete sense to us."

The idea to tap kids eyeballs through programming, especially the 4-14 year-olds, has until now, been limited to kids channels, and weekend programming on GECs to some extent. However, the idea to introduce a daily kids' band to tap newer viewers on regional TV is "interesting", opine top media executives.

K A Srinivasan, co-founder, Amagi Media Labs, says, "Such strategies help advertisers to tap a larger bouquet of an audience mix. Also, apart from region-targeted advertising, they help advertisers to cut cost, as the advertisers would otherwise spend in specific 24x7 kids' channels with larger investments."

Meanwhile, apart from fiction and international dubbed content, Big Magic is also building upon a non-fiction property, targeting children.

"The show is currently in the production stage. It will be a singing-based reality show, which will be targeted towards children," says Chakravarthy.